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Infused with the spirits of the holiday season, Knights celebrated Robinson’s winter sports with its third pep rally of the year in the gymnasium on Friday, Dec. 1. Planned by the Student Government Association (SGA), the theme was Winter on the Beach, featuring the upperclassmen as snow and underclassmen as sand.
“The preparation for the pep rally was a little challenging because we had Thanksgiving break right before the pep rally, but this was also good in some ways because our PR committee was able to do an amazing job creating the decorations,” Senior Class President Tara Kuklen (’24) said. “We wanted to do something new and creative for the theme. Since we live in Florida, it is never truly winter, hence the idea of snow vs. sand for the theme.”
The rally began with two performances. First, the Spirit Boys danced to the iconic “Mean Girls” “Jingle Bell Rock” dance. The crowds got hyped as they danced synchronously and performed several stunts, but no one performs better stunts than the Robinson Competitive Cheer team. Cheers were heard from all over the stands as they flipped through the air.
“I thought we performed super well especially considering it’s the beginning of the competitive season and we have not had a lot of full outs yet. The crowd’s energy was definitely a factor in our success and it feels really good to be able to showcase Robinson Cheer as the powerhouse we are,” said Sara Lebron (’24), a Backspot for the team.
No pep rally is complete without its games. One of the new games included in this pep rally was teacher sumo wrestling. Teachers dressed up in turkey sumo wrestling suits and fought until the other was pinned down on the ground. The first round was between history teachers Alexander Barron and Kevin Mccray and the second round was between science teacher Melissa Golden and school nurse Brianna Godfrey; Barron and Godfrey were the winners. Another new game was cheer basketball. The cheer team was to perform a stunt where the flyer formed a hoop with her arms. Representatives from each grade threw their pompoms like basketballs.
“Playing the cheer basketball was super fun and I really enjoyed being the basket because it made the experience more enjoyable,” said Maile Abell (’26), a Flyer for the team. “Also, the fact that my friend was the one shooting the poms made it even better.”
The winter sports were then introduced one by one as they ran a lap around the gym. Robinson’s sports include competitive cheerleading, soccer, wrestling, basketball and colorguard. The captains, and their substitutes, from each sport then participated in a game of musical chairs, where wrestling team member Arron McCarty (’26) was the winner.
The last game was the Teacher vs Student Basketball game. Teachers included math teacher Steven Smith, history teacher Gerald Batista, social studies teacher Donald Pippin, school officer Heister and others. After several dunks and three-pointers, the students won against the faculty, 9-7.
The pep rally ended with the traditional class chant. The senior class was the first to be eliminated. After three more heated rounds, the class of ’26 took home a win.
“Even though we were outnumbered by every other grade, collectively we had great school spirit. Hopefully, at the next pep rally, we have more seniors join us,” Shoira Afandikhonova (’24) said.
